Is it possible to replace a particular icon with one of our choice in 16.04 Ubuntu ? If yes, kindly share.
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Yes it is possible. Which kind of icon do you want to change? – M. Becerra Mar 20 '17 at 16:37
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I have installed a software. It's added through PPA. How can I change it's default icon on desktop, dash and launcher ? – user227495 Mar 20 '17 at 16:55
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Can I know the name of said software? – M. Becerra Mar 20 '17 at 16:56
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Sure. It's called Peek. A screen recorder. – user227495 Mar 20 '17 at 17:10
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@karel , 12.04 and 16.04 are distant versions. Would an answer for XP will be relevant in Windows 10 ? – user227495 Mar 21 '17 at 08:21
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I am just curious. How are the questions same ? – user227495 Mar 21 '17 at 09:10
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Well, both questions want to achieve the same, change the icon of a .desktop file, and the method hasn't changed from 12.04 to 16.04 – M. Becerra Mar 21 '17 at 09:24
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Yes, I noticed. You reply was very helpful and in detail. Without which I would not have been able to solve. I did add an icon to the icon theme using the method you described. – user227495 Mar 21 '17 at 09:32
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1Im glad you managed :) – M. Becerra Mar 21 '17 at 22:43
1 Answers
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How to change the icon of a Unity Launcher:
Unity Launchers are files stored in your computer, with a .desktop extension. These files are used to launch a specific application, but in Unity they are also used so as to create right-click menus for each application, which you can access from the Unity Launcher.
Such file looks something like this:
[Desktop Entry]
Version=x.y
Name=ProgramName
Comment=This is my comment
Exec=/home/$USER/Documents/exec.sh
Icon=/home/$USER/Pictures/icon.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Utility;Application;
Icon field is the icon that should be used by the launcher and represents the application. All icons that are under the directory /usr/share/pixmaps don't need to have their full path specified, but their filename without the extension.
For example, if the icon file is /usr/share/pixmaps/wallch.png, then the Icon field should be just wallch. All other icons should have their full path specified.
Therefore, in order to change the icon for a specific program, you need to:
1. Find the related .desktop file, they are commonly under /usr/share/....
You can do so with:
locate program_name.desktop
or if you can't seem to find it:
locate .desktop
and scroll through the list.
2. Open the .desktop you want to modify:
gedit /path/to/program_name.desktop
3. Modify any of the fields you wish:
Just to be save, make a backup first, which you can replace for the original file in case you screw up:
cp /path/to/program_name.desktop /path/to/program_name_backup
Source and further information:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UnityLaunchersAndDesktopFiles
M. Becerra
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1I installed an icon theme. That seems to be a lot easier than me meddling with all this. Thanks for the reply. :) – user227495 Mar 21 '17 at 08:22
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locate *.desktopdid not return results to me, howeverlocate .desktopdid return many results! – Selah Jul 12 '17 at 19:36